Here we go again

[potentiality_26]

It bothers me so much when people bookmark a fic on AO3 and say negative things about it (or even just say how they liked these parts of it but not those).  I mean I keep telling myself not to look at the bookmarks on my fics because I know I’m gonna see something that upsets me, but that means that I also have to miss out on the nice things other people wrote.

Making a negative bookmark, to me, is almost worse than leaving a negative comment because that way the writer can see those remarks, but they can't do anything about them either.

And if you can’t bring yourself to bookmark something without caveats, without also saying what you didn’t like about it, maybe you don’t really need to bookmark that thing.
 

Comments

[ride-4ever.livejournal.com]

WTF! I never looked at comments attached to bookmarks, so I didn't even know that Negative Bookmarks Is A Thing! *shakes head in incomprehension*

[potentiality-26.livejournal.com]

I think it only really happens in the bigger fandoms, so you might not have seen it. Like in my experience only maybe 25% of bookmarks even have comments on them, and only maybe 25% percent of those will be negative, so it's really not very many- but if you're scanning through the bookmarks people left and you see one, it's definitely a WTF moment.

[daria234.livejournal.com]

ugh why do people even bookmark it if they dont like it, i hate when ppl do that

and can't they use private bookmark if it's negative at least? or do i misunderstand how private bookmark works

[potentiality-26.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly!

I'm not sure how those work (I don't really use bookmarks, I just add a fic to my favorites or download it if I really like it) but if private bookmarks allow you to make comments without the writer being able to see them, then yeah, that would be the place to do it.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's coward's feedback, basically. I don't actually mind if they liked it with reservations, I'm okay with that, but bookmarking it with nothing else but a "whatever" kind of comment I just don't get. I was a bit 0.0 at someone who liked to attach huge comments to their bookmarks basically outlining the entire plot of the fic, but maybe that could go either way with readers, idk.

[potentiality-26.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's really odd when a fic gets bookmarked with "it's all right" or something, like you went through a lot of trouble for something you apparently didn't care much about, whoever you are.

I haven't seen bookmarks like that myself, but they sound weird.

[verdande-mi.livejournal.com]

Why comment at all if you don't have anything good to say! I don't understand people :( Sorry you feel you have to stop checking and miss the positive ones!

[potentiality-26.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't know what some people are thinking.